Clients of J. Ezra Merkin, a prominent Wall Street hedge fund manager who invested his clients’ money in Bernard L. Madoff’s epic Ponzi scheme, will recover more than $400 million under a civil settlement negotiated by the New York State attorney general’s office.

After shaking hands with him on Shabbat at the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, we had a distinct sense that after 3.5 years of litigation, Merkin was relieved.